COLUMBUS, Ohio (October 11, 2010) - Colby Yates selected Paycheck for the Built Ford Tough Championship Round, he knew he could score “some big numbers on him,” but by the time he readied himself in the chute, he needed just 5 points.
If he made the whistle, he would win his first Built Ford Tough Series event since 2006 in Albuquerque, N.M.
“He was heading out there straight, and I was like, ‘Don’t turn. Don’t turn. I gotcha,’” recalled Yates, who won the Cooper Tires Invitational with an 82-point ride, and in the process, earned his biggest payday on the aptly named bull.
Yates did all he could on Paycheck, who was marked just 39.75 points. Not for a moment did he consider accepting a re-ride option.
“Tonight I couldn’t do anything but ask for that bull to go straight,” Yates joked. “That was the best thing that could have happened.
“That’s right, no re-ride. Don’t even ask me. I’m not going to do it.”
It was a different situation from earlier this year, when he finished second in Nampa, Idaho, despite scoring a pair of 90-plus point rides.
Yates has competed in 10 of 30 events this year. He’s 29th in the world standings, and 15th in the qualifier standings with $117,342.20.
He’s been at six of the past seven BFTS events and recorded four Top 10 finishes, including his win this past weekend.
“Just been right there at it in the short round,” said Yates, who added that sometimes, like bull riders, the bulls don’t always have their best day.
The past two seasons have been trying for the 29-year-old.
Last year, he finished 69th in the standings, his lowest finish since debuting on the BFTS in 2006. Earlier this year, he considered retiring, until his wife convinced him otherwise.
“I don’t know if you call it ‘retire,’” he said, “but I was going to give it up. I was so mad at myself. I wasn’t having fun with it and my wife got me pumped back up.”
He’s since worked on his concentration and tried to stay focused on his career as a professional bull rider, not as a nascent country singer.
With his newfound drive and confidence, he’s hoping to finish the season ranked in the Top 20 for the first since he was 20th in 2008.
“Now I think back and I think, ‘Why was I even thinking that?’” said Yates about calling it quits. “That was just dumb. I didn’t have any confidence, and now I have all the confidence in the world, so I’m ready for Vegas.”
Just win, baby
J.B. Mauney said he’s going to Las Vegas for the upcoming PBR World Finals with the same attitude he’s always had: “Trying to win every round.”
He trails No. 1 Austin Meier by 506.75 points, but has made an impressive run for his first world title in the past 10 Built Ford Tough Series events.
In the first 19 events of the year, the 23-year-old from North Carolina went from being atop the world standings to falling out of the Top 5 and eventually landing in a Wichita, Kan., hospital with a partially collapsed lung.
But in the last 10 events of the 2010 season, he’s recorded half of his 16 Top 10 finishes this year. Since returning from his injury, he’s not gone a single event without putting at least one qualified ride on the board. He had come up empty seven times in the first 19 events.
Mauney’s had eight Top 10 finishes of late, including a string of five consecutive Top 5 finishes that included an event win in Springfield, Mo.
“There was a streak there where I was getting thrown off real bad, and it was all in my head,” Mauney admitted. “I was fighting my head bad, and I should have changed a lot of things, but hopefully we’ve got it turned around quick enough to catch up.”
The low point came in Nampa, Idaho, when for the third time in four events he went without making the whistle, a streak which ultimately led to his being left off the U.S. World Cup team.
He’s now passed Renato Nunes and is on the heels of Meier, but with a season riding average of 52.17 percent – a full 6 percent off his career average of 58.23. It’s 11.5 percent below his average from a year ago, when he battled Kody Lostroh until the final day of the season.
Mauney has twice finished second in the world standings, and was third in 2007.
It’s that kind of experience that has led to his late-season “ride all bulls” attitude.
“Yeah, but I need to start doing that throughout the year, too,” said Mauney. “Going in (to the Finals) it’s kind of like that, but I only look at one bull at a time when I get there.”
Keep on keeping on
Austin Meier said he isn’t at all concerned about scores or how many points he’s ahead in the standings.
But he acknowledged that every bull he rides makes it that much more difficult for those who are trying to overtake him.
“Every bull that I can get rode, it’s going to be harder for the next guy behind me to catch me,” he said.
“That’s why I say you have to keep looking forward when you’re in this position. Don’t worry about the guys that are behind you, because they’re doing their job just like you were when you were trying to catch them.”
Meier rode one of two bulls this weekend. His 78.75 points held J.B. Mauney to a 200-point gain in the world standings despite Mauney’s eighth-place finish in the average. By comparison, Meier was 25th in the average, but still has a 506.75-point lead in the world standings.
Although he might not be focused on points, the Oklahoma cowboy is well aware that there are only seven bulls between now and Sunday, Oct. 24, when the next PBR World Champion is crowned.
Meier said he’s “trying to ride each bull and go on with it. Focus on riding your bulls and try to make it as difficult as you can, because the more difficult you can make it on them, the more easy it is for you to walk away with the world title and a gold buckle.”
In the meantime, the 23-year-old said he needs to keep doing what he’s been doing all season, and that’s “focusing on my family and hunting.”
“It’s a business, it’s my job,” he added, “and I need to do things that are going to better me in that business.”
It’s going to take a little elbow grease
Skeeter Kingsolver will undergo X-rays and an MRI on Monday for what appears to be a broken right ulna at the elbow. He’s likely to have surgery later this week; however, Dr. Tandy Freeman said he should be ready to compete in Las Vegas at the Finals.
Although his injury is slightly different, L.J. Jenkins said he’s only now getting used to competing with a cast on his arm.
Jenkins has ridden with the cast for the past four BFTS events.
He said it’s not the added weight that took getting used to as much as the lack of mobility. He’s had to adjust to the fact he now has to move his entire arm, and isn’t expected to compete without the cast until after the Finals.
Kingsolver will have similar mobility restrictions. At the Finals, a brace will prevent him from moving his elbow.
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